My rabbits are pooing under my couch

[Kaz1983]

Have any changes occurred in her environment(new people, new animals, new area, things changed around, new smells, new sounds, etc), including outdoor sounds or possibly predators hanging around? Changes in a rabbits environment can spark new territorial marking with their poop. Or is her diet the only thing that's changed.

If you aren't also feeding pellets, I would recommend getting her back on some pellets. Pure straw is completely devoid of nutrients and can lead to impaction of the rabbits cecum. This is because straw is almost completely indigestible fiber with no nutrients to enter the cecum. Thus the cecum stalls with limited nutrients to keep the cecotropes moving through and leading to a back up and impaction.

You either need a balance of leafy hay with the straw, to provide the needed nutrients for the cecum to continue to function properly and also so your rabbit doesn't lose weight, or you need to start feeding some pellets again. Remember, it's all about the right balance. Not too much indigestible fiber(straw) and not too much rich food to cause excess cecals.

I don't know what the difference is exactly, but it's Oaten Hay and not Straw - I told the guy I'm not interested in buying Straw, only Oaten Hay - but I should start adding in some pellets tho..as for the environment, the only thing I've change was the litter box set-up... not the location, the litter box hasn't moved at all - just ncos there is a large amount of Oaten Hay being feed to the rabbits, I've added a Hay rack above the litter tray - so they can eat hay whilst they are going to the toilet.... thats all....... anyways;

No new people
No new animals
No new area location
No new smells (we haven't been around other dogs etc etc..)
No new sounds
No new predators

Apart adding a small hay shelve/feeder type thing (that is placed on the wall, above the litter tray) - nothing has changed.

And last night the both had some greens, a little bit of carrot and some weeds and some grass when they went outside - so they haven't been eating Straw but large majority of their diet is Oaten Hay. That said I'll add some good quality hay based pellets with the large amount of Oaten Hay (compared to before...) - so adding a small amount of pellets would be a good idea long-term... so I'm stumped, this behaviour is really weird - apart re-training them both might be a good idea if this continues... I mean re-toilet training them would the best move if this continues - right?

 

[JBun]

Straw would be fully mature, all hard stems, oat hay. If it has a mix of softer leafy parts and hard stems, that's ok and what you want to be feeding. Usually when it's to the point of being straw, there will be little to no grain left in the seed heads as well.

This could be 'protest' pooping because of the diet changes. Rabbits aren't above having an attitude when you change or do something they don't approve of In this case, usually it will subside as they gradually get used to the change. Otherwise, yes, restricting them back down to a smaller area, then gradually expanding once their litter habits are good, is usually what you do.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html

 

[Kaz1983]

Straw would be fully mature, all hard stems, oat hay. If it has a mix of softer leafy parts and hard stems, that's ok and what you want to be feeding. Usually when it's to the point of being straw, there will be little to no grain left in the seed heads as well.

This could be 'protest' pooping because of the diet changes. Rabbits aren't above having an attitude when you change or do something they don't approve of In this case, usually it will subside as they gradually get used to the change. Otherwise, yes, restricting them back down to a smaller area, then gradually expanding once their litter habits are good, is usually what you do.

https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html

Yah the "protest pooping" is only happening at night when everybody is asleep, between 9pm and 4am. See my wife works aged care, so gets up super early and there is poop scattered around the room. It gets swept up at 4am and doesn't get messy for the next 17 hours, which is kinda crazy if I'm honest - seems kinda strange.

Jbun, I'm not sure what you think about the timing of these poopings?

This needs sorting out ASAP, so I think limiting their space and only gradually opening the area up when their litter habits is a really good idea. I wonder how long it will take? I mean seeing as the litter box won't get moved, and most importantly they are 100% litter trained during the day - so yeah, IMO this won't be that difficult...

I'll update you in the future, fingers crossed.

 

[JBun]

You could also try restricting their area just at night, since they seem to be fine using the litter box during the day.

One other thing to add, while you're working with adjusting and changing their diet, it's a good idea to monitor their weight and body condition regularly. You just don't want the dietary changes to cause unhealthy weight loss. So just making sure they don't start to feel bony from excessive weight loss.

 

[JBun]

How long it takes depends on what exactly is causing them to start leaving their poops around only at night. If it's because of the diet changes, I would say over the next couple of weeks there would be a gradual improvement, as they get used to the new diet. If it's happening for some other reason, then it's first figuring out what that reason is before anything can be done to try and correct it.

 

[Kaz1983]

You could also try restricting their area just at night, since they seem to be fine using the litter box during the day.

One other thing to add, while you're working with adjusting and changing their diet, it's a good idea to monitor their weight and body condition regularly. You just don't want the dietary changes to cause unhealthy weight loss. So just making sure they don't start to feel bony from excessive weight loss.

Yes I will get their weight taken asap - that's a good idea.

There was something else that I wanted somebody else's opinion on, it had to do with food time - see my new girl rabbit has been thus far bossed around by my older boy rabbit, see the girl is only 1 years old and is still growing from a kid into a young adult, but seriously my older rabbit likes to eat first and he doesn't like the Oaten Hay very much - so I'm worried that when I give them 1/4 cup of pellet to share that he will eat 90 percent of the pellet and the won't bother eating any Oaten Hay unlike my girl bunny who will probably eat 10 percent of the pellets and then have to eat a lot more hay... I'm pretty sure that's what will happen.

Obviously the perfect outcome would be them sharing all foods in equal amounts but what happens if my female rabbit gets her half the pellets eaten and therefore my older rabbit is over eating on pellets? Then he won't need to bother with eating the Oaten Hay cos he will fill up on the pellets. Alex is healthy, but long-term he doesn't need to put weight on haha

See my older boy rabbit is kinda a bully when it comes to food time and the last thing I want, is him regularly eating nearly double the amount of pellets... she really needs to be all of her share, not letting him eat nearly all her pellets cos he is acting the big bad bully - again. Before he would eat most of the rabbit food mix, but they has 1/2 cup each max - now I want them to eat 1/8 cup of good quality pellets and a lot of Oaten Hay, with some fresh greens too... so I'm think my older boy rabbit might bully the younger girl rabbit and eat most her pellets ...

I hope not, but if the above does happen - what should I do?

Btw right now, they share a medium/large food bowl and water bowl, maybe it's very important they have their own bowls..

 

[JBun]

Split up the pellet feedings to twice or more a day, and only feed as much as they can eat in one sitting. Also put in separate bowls as well if needed. So he'll eat his and she'll eat hers, then they're done until the next pellet feeding. Usually only takes about 10-20 minutes.

Now if he scarfs his down and then comes for her share, then you may need to separate her for pellet time to give her a chance to eat her share. I know of an owner that had this issue and devised a pet carrier for the slow eater to sit and eat pellets in, then had a one way trap door that opened outwards so the rabbit in the carrier could push the door up to leave when done.

 

[Kaz1983]

Split up the pellet feedings to twice or more a day, and only feed as much as they can eat in one sitting. Also put in separate bowls as well if needed. So he'll eat his and she'll eat hers, then they're done until the next pellet feeding. Usually only takes about 10-20 minutes.

Now if he scarfs his down and then comes for her share, then you may need to separate her for pellet time to give her a chance to eat her share. I know of an owner that had this issue and devised a pet carrier for the slow eater to sit and eat pellets in, then had a one way trap door that opened outwards so the rabbit in the carrier could push the door up to leave when done.

All the issues seem to have sorted themselves out, was just really changing their diet and not much else. When it came to my rabbit seeming to drop their toilet habits overnight, well just one night of them being restricted to a 3m x 2m area put that right and now that is back to normal too. Which is great.

Currently my only issue is my girl compared to my boy, is a slow eater and will wait till Alex finishes scarfs down his pellets, she just waits till he is finished eat - this is why, getting them 2 food bowls is important - imho going forward they need one each ... so yeah all the main reason why I came here, have been sorted in the end. Just gotta get them re-weighted in 3 weeks and see if their weights are good - the vet last week, said they both look healthy.

 

[JBun]

Perfect! I'm glad the change of diet fixed the problem. It's nice when it's a fairly simple fix like that.